mysteriousgirlfriendxfandomcom-20200213-history
Episode 2: Mysterious Bond
Mysterious Bond (謎の結合 Nazo no Ketsugou) is Episode 2 of Mysterious Girlfriend X. ( Manga cross-reference---Manga Chapter 1, " Mysterious Bond " ) Summary Akira Tsubaki decides to ask his friend, Kouhei Ueno, on what he could do to advance his relationship with Mikoto Urabe without revealing he is going out with her. However, none of his advice seems to work on Urabe, and Tsubaki becomes more and more dejected. Tsubaki is given a demonstration of Urabe's scissors abilities, and begins to fear her reactions. Finally, one day Tsubaki becomes very depressed, and refuses Urabe's drool. So in order to show him the value and potency of their drool bond, Urabe leads Tsubaki to an abandoned building, to give him a taste of 'high octane' enhanced drool. Plot One morning at school, Tsubaki's friends are rating the attractiveness of girls in their class, which he is reluctantly keeping score of. Tsubaki is spacing out and thinking about Urabe as his new girlfriend, when they decide to rate her next. They protest she is too weird to even score, and Tsubaki gets a little inwardly annoyed. Later, Tsubaki and Ueno are getting some drinks from the vending machine, when suddenly Ueno grabs Tsubaki's arm. He explains that feel of the back of someone's arm just above the elbow feels like breasts. Tsubaki gropes his own arm and thinks of Urabe, saying her name out loud, and thereby arousing Ueno's suspicions. Once he's done moping about seemingly not having Urabe's attention, Tsubaki asks Ueno that if he 'hypothetically got a girlfriend', what his first move with her should be. Ueno questions whether he has a girlfriend, Tsubaki denies it, but then Ueno informs him that holding hands is a good first step. This prompts Tsubaki to run off in delight at the idea. Later that day, while Tsubaki is walking home with Urabe, he attempts to hold her hand. But before they can make contact, Urabe pulls her hand away and asks him what's going on. Tsubaki explains that he wants to hold hands with her, and Urabe flatly refuses, as she explains that there's no reason to. Tsubaki thinks to himself how they can have been going out for a whole month and have not done anything that couples tend to do. The next day, Tsubaki again asks Ueno for advice. Ueno becomes more suspicious, but says that before holding hands he could try 'communicating' with a girlfriend, asking about her hobbies. Tsubaki wonders if Ueno has a girlfriend, Ueno denies it, and Tsubaki waits until the walk home again to talk to Urabe. Tsubaki tries to talk to Urabe after their daily routine to try and ascertain if she has any hobbies they could talk about. Urabe reveals that her hobby is scissors, and shows him by quickly cutting a strip of paper into a series of camellia flowers in the blink of an eye, using scissors that she keeps holstered in her panties. She explains that Tsubaki means camellia, hence the pattern. An incredibly surprised and shocked Tsubaki wonders how such a feat can have been achieved in the blink of an eye, and why she would keep scissors in her panties to begin with. Urabe explains that's just the way she is. A further confused Tsubaki wonders how she's OK with showing off her white panties in public, to which she replies that as long as it is only him seeing them, she is fine with that. Back home, Tsubaki tries to ask his sister if panty scissors are a thing, but backs down when she herself becomes confused as to the nature of his question. He excuses himself to do homework. Later that night he has a dream about scissors attacking him in the dream city, while he is on the hotel roof, and it is eventually revealed the attacker to be Urabe, wearing nothing but her white panties with her scissors holstered in them. Yet again, Tsubaki asks Ueno for advice, by which point Ueno is sure Tsubaki has a girlfriend. Ueno says that Tsubaki needs to actually introduce himself to his girlfriend as first impressions are important. However, since Tsubaki has already done that on the first day Urabe came to class, he decides he's had enough of Ueno's advice, but cannot figure out what next to do. That evening, Urabe leaves Tsubaki at a different point during their walk without doing their daily routine. Feeling even more dejected after all his failings, Tsubaki is unsure what to think, but is surprised when Urabe comes back to give him some candy she's been sucking on for a slightly more erotic way of performing their routine. Overcome by her erotic gesture, the drool-covered candy with its sweetness, still warm from being in her mouth, as well as his desperation, Tsubaki attempts to hug Urabe from behind. This incurs her wrath as she deftly slips out from his grasp and shreds some cardboard boxes behind him. She explains to never try that without asking, and then goes home. Tsubaki ends up frustrated because there's seemingly nothing they can do as a couple. Ueno gives Tsubaki two tickets to a film they've been wanting to see, but tells him he's already seen it so Tsubaki can keep the spare ticket. Tsubaki asks Urabe to go with him to see the film, but she declines, as she has plans that day. She proceeds to try and give Tsubaki his daily dose of drool, however by this point the constant rejection and failures has got to him, and he is curled up in a ball on the sidewalk. Urabe asks what's wrong, and Tsubaki responds by asking her if they can really be together, if they don't do anything that couples do at all. Urabe explains that their daily routine and her drool is the special bond that they share. To demonstrate this, she takes Tsubaki to an abandoned and dilapidated house away from their homes and sits him down on a stool in an upstairs room. She tells him to close his eyes and to promise not to open them until she says so. Urabe undresses, then feeds Tsubaki a 'high octane' enhanced drool, which causes his heart to race, his body to feel as if it is on fire, and his nose to bleed. She explains that their drool is a special bond that allows them to understand what each other is feeling, and right now the reason he's feeling aroused and very hot is because she's also feeling stimulated. Revealed to the audience but unbeknownst to him, she's standing naked in front of him, but goes on to explain that the reason their drool bond is special is because he's her boyfriend. Tsubaki is asked to open his eyes, and Urabe is once again wearing her school uniform. On the walk home, Urabe explains her heart was beating so much because she was afraid Tsubaki would open his eyes. When he asks her what would happen if he had broken that promise, Urabe grabs her scissors and slices up the 'scoring the girls' notebook he brings up as a shield, saying she may have lost control if he did open his eyes. She apologizes for cutting up his notebook and they go home. That night, Tsubaki dreams about having sex with Urabe on the roof of a hotel in the dream city, while she has a doll in a komono tied to her head. The next day, Tsubaki can't stop blushing while he's around Urabe. He tells her it's because of a dream he had but won't go into specifics, resulting in her using her incredible speed to get some of Tsubaki's saliva onto her finger before he can react. She tastes his drool and begins to blush as her nose bleeds from arousal. She is somehow able to recall the details of his dream, and she tells him it's fine to have a fantasy about her, but while they are having sex, she would never wear a doll tied to her head. Tsubaki is surprised that she can tell that much from retrieving his drool, and chases after her as she playfully runs away from him. Differences from the manga This episode is based mainly on chapter 1 of the manga, however the scene where Urabe first reveals her panty scissors is lifted directly from chapter 0. * The entire opening scene where the boys of 2-A are rating the girls does not appear anywhere in the manga, although they do rate them in their swimming costumes in another chapter. * Tsubaki does not ask Ueno for any advice during the chapter, in fact he's never even seen. * Tsubaki does not try to hold Urabe's hand before asking her if it's OK. Her reaction is still the same, albeit without her trademark glare. * As mentioned above, the scene where Urabe performs her first feat with her scissors is original from chapter 0. The only difference is that she shows him in a park that they frequent later in the manga. * The scene with Tsubaki talking to his sister, and folding laundry following Urabe's demonstration of her scissors skills is new, created specifically for the anime. * The dream about white panties and fabric is also brand new, but the concept of Tsubaki getting hungover by different coloured panties is explored a few times in the manga much later on. * Urabe cuts up a hedge next to Tsubaki in the manga instead of cardboard boxes behind him after he tries to hug her. She cuts both into the shape of the cowering Tsubaki though. * The tickets are from Ueno in the anime, as apparently Tsubaki and him were going to see it together. In the manga, Tsubaki appears to have bought them himself in a last ditch attempt to try and do something with Urabe. * When Tsubaki asks what would have happened had he opened his eyes, Urabe cuts up his notebook into a row of little girls holding hands. In the manga, she instead cuts a Tsubaki-shaped hole out of a cardboard standee next to him. * The doll attached to Urabe's head in Tsubaki's sex dream is much more elaborate and detailed in the manga. * There's again more symbolism in this episode that doesn't appear in the manga, such as cat and bird couples doing their own thing, walking past a Shinto temple, and ants stripping a beetle carcass bare. Notes *There is quite a lot of Bad Cat branding on the vending machine - this is Ueshiba Riichi's author persona. * Characters from one of Riichi's previous works can be seen on some of the drinks cans, and also seem to be the stars of the Science Boy and Magic Girl movie Tsubaki gets tickets for. * Like the manga, Urabe doesn't actually tell Tsubaki that she was naked in front of him. However, he seems to have figured it out by the time of the cultural festival ( when she again shows herself naked to him ), possibly by becoming aware of the mental and spiritual communicative ability of the drool bond. * In the next episode we find out that Ueno and Ayuko Oka are dating, and have been since the previous academic year. * The common Japanese media cliché of a nose bleed to indicate sexual arousal is used a lot throughout the series, but is first used in this episode. * In the original broadcast version of this episode, when Urabe was naked her body was covered in shading from the neck down in certain shots. This censorship was removed for the DVD and Blu-ray release. Commentary and Opinion The thoughts of CuteButLooksLolita Although Urabe and Tsubaki are new to the concept of a relationship between two of the opposite gender, as well as both of them being virgins, circumstances and events are presented to them as opportunities for them to deepen and intensify their commitment to each other. Such an opportunity occurs during this episode of the anime, as the good personality qualities of faith and trust are put on display. Each one is given a challenge as to whether or not to use or exercise these traits, or to sidestep them for alternate actions with less than desirable results. One day, Tsubaki, because of being discouraged and dejected about the progress of their relationship, refuses Urabe's drool. So to show Tsubaki the value and potency of the drool bond, Urabe does a special routine using 'high octane' enhanced drool, as a way of convincing him of just how valuable their shared drool bond is and can be. ( in the subtitled anime episode @ approx. 13:10 - 18:20 / Caution, rated 'R' for brief nudity ) Urabe is called upon to show FAITH in Tsubaki's ability to remain calm and reasonable while she takes him through the experience of ingesting enhanced drool, with unknown results to himself, or with an unknown reaction towards her. She further shows complete TRUST in Tsubaki to keep his eyes closed while she undresses, and then to remain calm before, during, and after she feeds him the enhanced drool, that causes such violent reactions to him. Can Tsubaki be trusted under such unusual and erotic conditions ? Urabe shows such faith that he can. Tusbaki is called upon to show FAITH in Urabe, in whatever she has planned for him, after he refused her drool. Urabe tells him nothing about what they are about to do, why they are in an abandoned building, nor does she advise him of any reaction he may have. Does Urabe really have his best interests at heart ? Tsubaki must TRUST Urabe that she will in no way harm him, or cause any lasting mental or emotional damage to him. Even with the violent reaction to the enhanced drool that causes his body to be on fire, and his nose to bleed, he still trusts Urabe's instructions not to open his eyes, and that she has the best of intentions for him. Both passed each others expectations of the giving and receiving of faith and trust. They 'compare notes' with each other, while walking home after Urabe's 'Special Demonstration' of the Drool Bond. ( @ 18:20 - 19:24 ) Although Urabe touches on the subject of what would have happened if things did go wrong, wherein faith and trust would have been violated, she apologizes for such thoughts, and Tsubaki is fine with her concerns. Their relationship is further deepened and strengthened, based on these good personality traits that each has shown to the other. Category:Episodes